Ahmadinejad says he is ready to meet US presidential candidates
In his speech to the assembled delegations, Mahmoud hmadinejad called for inspections to be done in the US and other nuclear powers - even as many of those same nations are considering imposing a fourth round of sanctions on Iran. "If we have any complaints about the US government who should we turn to? The Security Council, where they veto everything?" Ahmadinejad said. "They cannot speak for the international community at large, it's the language of force and force doesn't solve anything." He added that Iran was too geographically large to worry about military threats, specifically from Israel, after a Pakistani journalist asked whether Iran considered Hizbullah's arms capabilities as part of its own defenses. "The Zionist regime is not in a position to create any form of disturbance for Iran and Iran has different ways of defending its interests," Ahmadinejad replied, skirting the question of Hizbullah. Ahmadinejad did not take questions from The Jerusalem Post or any other Israeli media outlets at the press conference. President Shimon Peres, who appeared briefly before the press Tuesday evening, repeated the comparison of Ahmadinejad to Hitler he made earlier in the day, before Ahmadinejad's speech. "It is again a repetition of the darkest accusations in the name of Hitler and almost anti-Semitism," Peres told reporters. He said Ahmadinejad's repeated threats to "wipe Israel off the map" violated the basic principles of the United Nations. "This never took place before in this building, in the UN," Peres said, shaking his head. "No member country can threaten the existence of another country." He said he felt the UN, with its charter of rights, was the right forum for holding Ahmadinejad accountable - not an international criminal court, as suggested this week by prominent Jewish leaders including Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and Canadian MP Irwin Cotler, a human rights lawyer. Cotler said at a conference in Washington Tuesday that he felt Ahmadinejad could be charged with public incitement to commit genocide for his inflammatory comments about Israel and "Zionists." Peres took a more measured tone, calling instead for Ahmadinejad to be made an international pariah. "I think this man should remain in isolated experience in a world that is against discrimination, against anti-Semitism, against terror," Peres said. "We should see him as he is and not as he strives to paint himself." (12,25)
